Seeking the Keeper
by QueenofPotterwood
Summary: When Harry finds himself madly in love with the Gryffindor Keeper, Oliver Wood, he can't seem to keep up with reality nor his feelings for his fellow Quidditch player. What will happen if Harry reveals his undying love for Oliver?
1. Chapter 1

My third year at Hogwarts.

I was so eager to get away from the wretched Dursley's I had spent the last summer with; Dudley just wouldn't shut up about his new moped type thing which he could only drive up the road and back. I've stayed in my room for most of the summer, sending letters back and forth to Ron and Hermione; sometimes even Colin who somehow found my address… I suspect Dobby was involved, but it's not like I mind. It's the contact with the Wizarding World that I crave, and all my friends give me that.

I can never shake the feeling, however, that I'm missing someone more than I should or I used to. My captain. Oliver Wood. Just as much as I miss Quidditch itself, I miss the Keeper just as much, if not more.

I've been trying to push the feelings back a bit and concentrate on the pile of homework I got over the summer, that was done in the first week of the boredom that was my time at the Dursley's, but as I said it was already done and there were so many days which I would just lay on my bed and think about Hogwarts. I even missed the moaning, droning professor that was Snape, and his potions lessons. What I wouldn't give to be in one right now.

25th August. Just a week to go before I got on the Hogwarts Express and headed off to the place I called home, and would be my home for another 5 years, including this one. Just as I thought of Diagon Alley, Hedwig rapped her beak on my window with her leg full of letters. I'd been worried about her – I hadn't seen her around for at least 5 days, if not a week, and I was starting to think something had happened to her. She stuck her leg out for me, and I undid the knots tying the letters to her leg. Throwing them on my bed, I opened her cage for her and poured a little food in her bowl even though she had probably already eaten on her flight home. After ruffling her feathers as reward also, I turned back to my bed and jumped on it, picking the letters up and flicking through them.

One was from Ron, as I could tell from his scruffy handwriting I had gotten used to over the two and a bit years I had known him now, another one was from Colin who had surprisingly neat handwriting, I had come to know too, and was a little bit thicker than usual – probably showing me more pictures he had gotten to move over the summer. I swear by the amount of pictures the little guy takes he could run a photography business; he's good enough to be one already.

The last one was from Hogwarts; I had noticed that they were late on sending their letters out this year, for they were usually around by the 20th. The new books I needed were listed and there were a couple more than usual because of the new subjects I decided to take – Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. The rest were standard Grade 3 books, like Charms, Transfiguration and Potions, so they were easy enough to find. I knew I would be able to find Divination in the same place as everything else, but CoMC? Especially with the book title, and also knowing the teacher well… "The Monster Book of Monsters". I knew this could only end badly.

Hedwig only stayed for around 4 hours while I wrote my replies to Ron and Colin, who soon swooped back off into the sky and away from me, leaving me alone again. I decided to venture out of my bedroom and out of the house for the first time in around two weeks, not having to be afraid of running into my so called "family" because they were visiting Aunt Marge and her terrifyingly savage dogs. Last time I saw them, they successfully managed to chase me up a tree and keep me there for two nights straight, each one seeming to work in a team at not letting me come down; there was always at least one dog at the bottom on the tree in the Dursley's garden at one time. Wasn't the best weekend I've ever had, really.

Honestly? This year I had no idea how I was even going to get to Diagon Alley, so I asked Ron in my letter if he could come and get me kinda like he did last year, but actually meeting the Dursley's (god help him) and the same with his parents. I know, it wasn't the best plan in the world but it was all I had left because time was running out, and quickly. It seemed, however, that Mrs Weasley was one step ahead of me, for the next day she was at my doorstep with an eager looking Arthur and a dismal looking Ron, who's face lit up when he saw it was myself that answered the door. They were lucky; Dudley had a dentist appointment and he swore down he needed both his loving parents to be there because he was deathly afraid of having metal instruments poked around in his mouth. I, of course, never went; because if I did all that would happen is I would be moaned at and told to stay in the car, so there was honestly no point at all in me wasting my energy going.

"Where are the muggles?" Mr Weasley asked keenly, and I explained where they were and his face fell a little.

"Harry, can you come with us? Your aunt and uncle won't mind?" Mrs Weasley was fretting as I gathered my stuff and wrote a tiny note to the Dursley's.

"Trust me, Mrs Weasley, they'll be glad to be rid of me." I assured her, and she relaxed a little bit. "Muuum," Ron whined, turning to his mother.

"Do we really have to apparate back?" I looked on puzzled, having no idea what apparation was.

"Well Ronald, unless you have a better idea of getting us back to the Burrow in the next 10 minutes then yes, we do." Ron sighed and shook his head.

"Harry dear, just take my hand." I did as I was told, and I saw Ron take his father's hand before I was sucked into nothingness, squeezing and squeezing my organs until I thought I couldn't take it anymore. The sudden light took me by surprise and I nearly fell over as the world was spinning, and I decided there and then I didn't want to do that again anytime soon.

"Harry, are you okay?" Ron's voice came from somewhere behind me and I turned, regaining my balance somewhat.

"Yeah, fine. Just… shaken." I laughed a little, trying to cover how horrible I had found the experience.

"It's like that the first time. Don't worry about it." Ron laughed along with me and we headed inside the Burrow; the only other place that almost felt like home.

"Hello Harry!" I was greeted by the dual voices of the twins, Fred and George, on my entrance into the kitchen.

"Just make yourself at home dear," came Molly's voice from the stove "You can share a room with Ron for a week, and if you want anything don't hesitate to ask."

"T-thanks Mrs Weasley," I stammered out; even though I was here last year, the homeliness of the place still overwhelmed me.

Along with the help of Ron, Fred and George, I hauled my stuff up the stairs and Hedwig was already in Ron's room. I should have guessed; she was always at least two steps ahead of me and most other people around her. She really was remarkable, and I stroked her a little before getting back to my stuff.

The rest of the day was amazing, I played Quidditch for the first time in 6 weeks, at least, but I was on top form as always. The teams were Fred and I against Ron and George, and also Ginny if she was confident enough to even talk to me. She shouldn't have to be shy-she was an amazing Quidditch player and also a great person to talk to. The teams were evenly matched- Fred and George were at the exact same excellent ability, and even though Ron wasn't the best he could keep pretty well and also be a good beater. When Ginny joined in, it was fairer on Ron's team, but Fred and I still usually beat them.

The novelty of Quidditch didn't really wear off for me, but did have its disadvantages in a way. The game reminded me so much more of Oliver, and made me miss him even more. Just a few more days, I kept telling myself, and then I would be able to see him again and practise with him.

"Come on boys, get up!" came the loud voice of Mrs Weasley's voice came three days before we were to set off for Hogwarts. "We're going to Diagon Alley; we need to get your stuff."

We groaned in unison, it was only 8am and as I got up, Ron rolled over and started snoring again. I took the time to get ready quickly in peace, and then almost having to kick him to wake him up again. It was pretty amusing as the twins got involved as well, until he nearly punched us in our faces. Sniggering, we ran downstairs towards the smell of bacon, and were on our second helping when a very pissed off Ron came downstairs. He took a seat beside me and loaded his plate up, and softened after his first helping. Food always seemed to cheer Ron up; like father like son I guess.

Heading out after fifths of bacon, we arrived in Diagon Alley via floo powder. I didn't make the same mistake as I did last time- that was an experience and a half and I didn't really want to repeat it. I went first, and ended up at the entrance of the street, close to The Leaky Cauldron. I waited for a few minutes for the Weasley family, moving out of the way when they all came along.

"Well Harry and Ron you need the same books… Fred, George and Percy you can come and get robes with me and your father… Meet at Fortescue's in around an hour, okay?" Mrs Weasley told us and me and Ron nodded at her instructions, heading off down the street to Florish and Blotts. The shop window surprised us, for there were two shop assistants trying to wrestle these huge beige coloured books apart, which seemed to be trying to kill the other. Catching a glimpse of the title, I turned to Ron as he turned to me and our eyes reflected each other's looks of bewilderment in why Hagrid would set us murderous books to learn from. We walked in and asked one of the assistants about the books, and how we needed two. Her face went as white as a sheet as she told the other assistant, who mirrored an expression of panic on his face as hers.

Ron and I cringed away as two books were captured and bound up, on our request, and shoved into bags before they could do anymore damage to the shop and also the assistants. We found the Divination books we needed pretty easily and hurried off with 45 minutes to kill. After visiting Quality Quidditch Supplies, Ron said he needed some tonic for Scabbers, but I didn't think Hedwig needed anything so I stayed outside of the Apothecary; it was busy enough as it was.

Surprisingly, I thought then, I hadn't seen Hermione on the whole visit. Then again, she was probably being her usual organised self and came here on the day we got our books list.

I was standing there for a while, and my heart skipped a beat as soon as I saw him. I didn't think he would notice me for I was just hanging around in the shadows, but the Keeper seemed to notice everything. He stopped and turned to me, saying something to what I guessed was his mother, and almost jogged over to me. I was going into overdrive as he opened his mouth to speak; I had no idea what I was going to say to him, if I could even get my words out.

"Hey there Harry!" his Scottish accent powering through me like it never had done before. I didn't realise how much I missed him up until that point.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two – Diagon Alley**

My heart was pounding and my head spun as he smiled at me; I had never felt this way about anyone, let alone him. When I left Hogwarts at the end of my second year – his sixth – we were good friends at most. Now it was something different, and I could feel it. I don't know what had happened, we hadn't even had any contact over the summer and weren't really close beforehand, so what had changed? Had I just been hiding my feelings for him during my second year and just let everything come out… in more ways than one.

I brought myself back to the present after only a couple of seconds of standing there like a lemon staring into his brown eyes. I cursed under my breath for letting my mind wander when I was standing there right in front of him and replied.

"H-Hey Oliver!" I said maybe too brightly, internally kicking myself for stammering and also feeling a low blush rise up into my cheeks. "What're you doing here?"

"Same as you, most probably," Oliver chucked. "You're alone?"

"No, no." I answered, and I could have sworn his face fell a little. "Just waiting for Ron."

"Understandable." Oliver said lightly. I decided that the movement of his face was just a trick of the light and I tried to get the conversation going again but the arrival of Ron cut me off.

"Hey Harry, I got it, let's ge- oh hey Oliver!" Ron only just spotted the Keeper, and for some reason his attitude started to get on my nerves quite a bit.

"Hey Weasley," Oliver smiled. "Ron, isn't it?" it pleased me quite a bit more than it should have that Oliver didn't know my best friend's last name, though that was probably because he had tones of fangirls swarming him… I stopped my train of thought before my face turned green with sudden jealousy of those girls.

"Yeah," Ron replied, almost coolly. "How did you know my last name?" even I knew the answer to that one, but I kept my mouth shut.

"Fred and George," Oliver said smoothly.

"Oh yeah… course," Ron brushed it off. "Anyways Harry shouldn't we be going?" I didn't want to leave Oliver's side, and even though I knew it was pathetic, I didn't want to miss him. I didn't want to miss out on an opportunity to just chat and hang out.

"Yeah I guess so…" I hesitated before following Ron, and making a split second decision I turned to Oliver.  
"Oliver, wanna come with us?" I held my breath as his face lighted up, just as mine did.

"Sure! Lemme check with my mam first okay?" Oliver said, almost running over to his mother. Seconds later, he came jogging back with a grin on his face. "Let's go then!" I laughed along with Oliver.

Ron's attitude worsened over the course of around ten minutes walking down the street, and I think I knew why. I hadn't stopped the conversation with Oliver the whole time, about Quidditch and what we had done over the summer. I didn't realise how much I was pushing Ron out of the conversation before he pulled me aside and asked me what my problem was, and I felt pretty bad for ignoring him. I didn't stop talking to Oliver, but I involved Ron more even though his attitude didn't really improve until we bumped into Hermione and his face lit up like a child on Christmas day. He swore blind to me that he thought of her nothing more than a friend, but I could tell that it was more than that; someday they'll get together and I know it. I hope the same for me and Oliver but it's really unlikely because I don't even know his sexuality yet…

"Guys, will you come with me to get some new robes?" Hermione asked in a break in conversation. "It's really the only reason I came down here; I didn't realise how small my old robes were,"

"I'll go with you!" Ron said quickly, and I glanced at Oliver at the same time as he glanced at me.

"Awesome Ron," Hermione looked at Oliver and I "You guys wanna come too? I don't mind if you don't come, I'll be fine with just Ron" Hermione smiled at me like she knew something that I didn't know she knew, but I was grateful because it gave me morw alone time with the Keeper.

"Yeah Hermione, you go with Ron" I told her, as I was sure she wanted alone time with Ron too "Oliver and I will find somewhere else to go, I'm sure" Oliver grinned at me, almost cunningly which I found odd but exciting as Hermione waved and flounced off with Ron.

"So… where are we going?" Oliver asked.

"Um… I hadn't really worked that out yet" I laughed nervously. I had no idea what was going on with me; I had never acted this way in front of Oliver before, in front of anyone for that matter. I didn't really think about it, to be honest it was just my natural reaction which, at this second, I hated with all of my being.

"That's okay," Oliver smiled and I melted. "Maybe we could go and check out some stuff in Quality Quidditch Supplies?" Oliver suggested.

"Yeah, sounds great" I grinned as we walked down the street, discussing the Quidditch situation we had left at the end of the year at Hogwarts. All of the team would still be around, but we were debating whether we wanted to bring some new players in.

"Yeah, and maybe so-HARRY LOOK AT THIS!" Oliver grabbed my arm, a natural reaction of course, and pointed to the red and green window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. The most beautiful broom I had ever seen was lying on the red cushions; Nimbus 2002, it was called. Only one in stock, the plaque read, because it was a prototype. Obviously the shop wanted to showcase what it had and to also bring in more customers, I noted.

Oliver glanced at me upon seeing the queue into the shop, and we both thought the same thing at the same time.

"Maybe we should avoid the queues…" Oliver said hesitantly.

"Exactly what I was thinking," I laughed "Let's just go to Fortescue's?"

"Sounds great," Oliver smiled at me, showing all of his pearly white teeth. I still couldn't get over the fact of how perfect he was; maybe I was a little biased but everyone would agree with me (his army of fangirls especially) that he was most definitely one of the most attractive teenagers around.

Walking into the ice cream parlour, a group of Oliver's fangirls saw him. Shrieking and giggling, they walked past him, one being pushed forward to touch him and dared to hug him. I actually felt really sorry for him, on top of being pathetically jealous of the girls starting to surround him.

"Come on, Harry," he hissed at me while the girls were distracted by one of their friends. "These girls can see me enough at school; let's go," we ran together down a tiny alleyway which I had never noticed before, but Oliver seemed to know exactly where he was going. He had obviously used this passageway many times before to get away from the girls that seemed to be always following him; I guess they came in useful at times.

To my surprise, the end of the alleyway came out around the back of Fortescue's and the man welcomed Oliver with open arms. It was obvious that Oliver had been here like this many times before over the years; if this wasn't true then I'm sure Florean's reaction would be much, much different to this one.

"The usual, please," Oliver asked politely, and turned to me. "Harry, what would you like?"

"Um… chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts, please?" Harry looked puzzled at Oliver's wide eyes at his order; it had always been his favourite since the first ice cream he ever had on his first visit to Diagon Alley.

"That'll be two of the usual's, then. Coming right up, Oliver," Florean smiled and walked back into his shop as I copied Oliver's facial expression. Two of the usual's. _Two of the usual's._ It couldn't mean much, but it meant something. Oliver and I had the same taste in ice cream, were in the same house and the same interest in Quidditch. He started to laugh lightly, and I joined in, both of us expressing our tones of surprise and coincidence before Florean walked out with our ice creams unusually quickly. Oliver tried to pass the money over for both of the ice creams, before I cut him off and handed my own. It took a while, but I wasn't going down without a fight and I wasn't going to let him pay for both.

"Harry, please," Oliver looked me in the eye, like he knew I would almost always give into those eyes.

"Fine," I said while Florean was still standing there. As soon as he disappeared back into his shop, I forced the money on Oliver.

"But Harry-"

"No buts. Take it. Please." I almost begged him, and he gave in. I honestly thought it would take a lot longer than that to persuade him, and I was surprised.

We finished our ice creams and headed out, down the alleyway we had come not fifteen minutes before. After checking around for fangirls, we walked down the street, looking out for the Weasley's and Hermione. We bumped into Fred and George first which was rather entertaining: it seemed like they had sneaked away from their mother and father and gone to Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop and bought Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous, Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks. They offered a demonstration of the fireworks after I asked what they actually did; however Oliver and I both declined, safe in the knowledge that there would most probably cause chaos knowing the twins.

"FRED! GEORGE!" The all so familiar cry of Molly Weasley came from behind us, startling Oliver and I out of our skins. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" I cringed as Molly stormed forward, nearly all the people around stopping and looking at the unfolding argument.

"Sorry Mum," the twins said in unison. "We were just having a bit of fun."

"YOU THINK RUNNING OFF IS JUST A BIT OF FUN?!" Mrs Weasley was in full rage mode at the twins, so in an unspoken agreement, Oliver and I decided to go and find Ron and Hermione.

This didn't really take us very long, however, because they were standing right behind us watching the drama unfold, just as we were. We nodded in acknowledgment of each other, and I turned to Ron.

"They are in deep shit…" I whispered to Ron, and he agreed.

"I would walk off right now, but I don't want to anger her any more than she already is, to be honest" Ron said, and both Hermione and Oliver, along with myself, agreed again.

We let Molly have her rage time; the twins being her targets as they usually are, and as soon as she calmed down we headed back to the ice cream parlour.

Oliver and I politely turned down ours, each of us shooting a wink at Florean and he smiled back at us. We had another conversation about Quidditch around a tiny table with Ron and Hermione, Hermione mainly staying out of it, and Ron seemed to be surprisingly interested in whether there would be Quidditch trials when we got back to school. I kept my probably not the nicest thought in the world about Ron's Quidditch skills to myself, and I noticed Ginny seemed to be leaning into the conversation from the opposite table with her parents and twin brothers as soon as she heard the words 'Quidditch trial'. This made me intrigued but I said nothing, because I still knew how Ginny felt about me and I felt a little guilty in a way for not liking her back the way she liked me. I didn't swing that way; and besides, I was so besotted by Oliver I didn't really notice people in that way anymore.

Saying goodbye to Oliver when we had to leave 45 minutes later was one of the hardest things in my life. Honestly, I never thought saying goodbye to someone you loved could be so hard, and it was on par to saying goodbye to Ron and Hermione over the summer, maybe even worse. At least I knew over the summer I would have contact with my best friends; but for another week at least I wouldn't hear a word from Oliver.

If we met on the train, it would only be around three days, but I knew he wouldn't want to be around me when he had all his seventh year friends around him… and Katie Bell. As much as I wanted to see him, I didn't want to see her, clutching onto his body like they were dating just to piss the fourth years that follow him around. I had no idea of his opinion on this, but he never seemed to complain and always looked like he liked it, or tolerated it.

I bet he didn't do it just to crush my dreams, but it was just more proof that he'd never feel the same way that I felt about him; how could I ever be so lucky…


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three – The Last Days of Summer**

The last few days of the summer were actually not too bad, considering what I was going through over the summer with the Dursley's; not that they knew nor cared. It helped that I didn't have much time to myself, and when I did have the time to myself it was the worst time in the day for me. The times when I could think through the day in Diagon Alley and the times when I would count the seconds until I would be able to catch a glimpse of Oliver again. To be able to play Quidditch with him and sit through his long pre-match and pre-practice pep talks, pretending to be falling asleep to copy the others but in fact hanging on every word he said in his amazingly sexy Scottish accent.

No one knew how I felt and it was going to stay that way until I was completely ready to tell Oliver. I hoped he would be the first person I told and the first person who would know my true feelings for him, even if he didn't feel the same way about me. I hoped that he would be supportive of me, just how I hoped my best friends would be too; I think it would kill me more if they weren't by my side than if Oliver didn't support me or accept me.

I seemed to be busy in the Burrow, so I didn't get much time to think about him or to think about when I finally came out to my best friends and eventually the whole world. I wanted to tell Oliver, at least, by the end of this year, because it was his last year at Hogwarts and I wanted him to at least know how I felt before he had to leave.

Leave… it was a horrible thing for me to think about, that I'd probably never see him again after he left Hogwarts to go on and pursue a career in Quidditch. If everything went well, I guess I could go and watch him in whatever team he ended up playing for. I know he could do it; the problem was that he didn't believe in himself. He's easily the best Keeper in the school, if not _the_ best, and he would be able to play for a professional team with no problem at all.

Ron started to notice, I think, that whenever I had free time in the Burrow I wasn't really paying attention to anything that was going on around me. He never confronted me about it, but after the first day had passed after meeting Oliver in Diagon Alley, he tried to keep me busy all the time, to keep my mind at bay and to be able to keep up with the present. I honestly don't know what it is with Ron; he always seems to know what was wrong without actually saying anything. If he didn't know what it was, he didn't ask, but he still seemed to be able to do his best in making me feel better and I was eternally grateful for that.

Most of this, these couple of days, consisted of Quidditch practice with the battered Quaffle the Weasley's owned, and messing around with Fred and George.

The day before we were set to go back to school, the twins decided to bother Percy in as many ways as possible. We were supposed to be packing; however Ron and I had finished in record time and Fred and George… well they were stalling, to say the least. They had taken Percy's owl, Hermes, and locked him in their wardrobe with a silencing charm they had persuaded Charlie to place on the panicked bird. He was only back from Romania for the weekend before we headed back to school, and he wanted to make the most of every minute of being home with his family for the first time in around 3 years.

"FRED! GEORGE! RON!" Percy's highly girly scream came from just outside the door a second before it was smashed open by the 17 year old Weasley, who's glasses were crooked and face was as red as his hair; it made it look like his whole face was on fire. I was actually pretty terrified of this Percy, along with Ron, though the twins were sniggering at his expression. They had obviously seen him like this before and it amused them no end.

"What is it, my darling brother?" Fred asked mockingly, which just infuriated Percy more.

"You know bloody well what. Give me back my owl, now." Percy seemed to be having a hard job keeping his voice level, and I didn't blame him.

"What owl?" George looked at Percy innocently before breaking down into giggles with his twin, ruining the whole effect.

"Get out of my way," Percy snarled, pushing Ron and the twins out of the way. I had tactfully moved over to the other side of the room, way out of Percy's firing line, and Ron quickly came over to join me, muttering something to me about Percy being insane.

A tiny shake of the twins' wardrobe was all it took for Percy to find his beloved owl he had gotten not three days before, and gave us all death glares before snatching the bird up and storming out, slamming the door behind him. In a moment of silence, we all glanced at each other and broke down laughing; I had to admit that seeing Percy that angry was hilarious, if quite scary also.

For once, we were at Kings Cross Station 25 minutes before the train left the station, whereas we would usually be rushing to catch the train. Everything went to plan this morning, for once, even if Percy did have a freak-out session when he thought he forgot his Head Boy badge which was actually pinned to his jumper he was wearing the previous day.

Ron and I went first through the barrier (Mrs Weasley didn't want a repeat of last year) followed quickly by Percy and Molly, Arthur and Ginny, and then Fred and George, we found Platform 9 and ¾ to be a lot less crowded than usual; we were around 15 minutes early, after all. The only people on the platform were basically first years with no older siblings, prefects and the Head Girl, Penelope Clearwater, who Percy almost ran off to meet as soon as he set eyes on her.

"Might as well find a good carriage to shove our stuff in, Harry," Ron says to me as I search around the platform for the person I most want to see. I hesitated.

"Yeah, sure… Let me go find," I paused to think of a name that wouldn't be suspicious. "Hermione. She's got to be around here somewhere, right?" Ron just nodded at me as he climbed into the nearest train car to him.

Walking, probably quicker than necessary, around the platform, I spotted a number of my friends from my year and also my house. Dean, Seamus, Neville and his toad, Katie also, but I didn't see Oliver nor Hermione who I was supposed to be looking for.

I returned to the car that Ron was in, in a worse mood than I had left. Ron was in the first carriage I came to, sitting with Hermione and they seemed to be deep in conversation, and I didn't want to disturb them but I still had all my stuff that I was dragging along with me, so I didn't really have much choice.

"Harry!" Hermione jumped up and embraced me in a friendly hug before letting my shove my trunk and Hedwig on the rack above our heads.

"Hey Hermione," I smiled, my worries slowly fading away for the time being. I felt like I was home again, with my best friends who I counted as family. On my way home, to the place that always welcomed me back with open arms and was the first place I had ever felt accepted.

The three of us easily slipped into a conversation about our summers; though I was mainly listening to both of theirs because the majority of mine was being locked up in a bedroom with no one for company apart from Hedwig. Ron and Hermione started talking about the school year ahead of us, and started to bicker over the subjects they had both taken to add to the ones we had done in our first and second year. I took the time to back out before I got caught up in the middle like a fish caught in two nets, and told them I needed air and would go and find the Trolley Lady to get some food for us all.

As soon as I was out of the carriage, I felt a lot more freedom, which was a weird feeling to start with; however I got used to it pretty quickly. Heading down the train, I passed Neville who'd lost Trevor again, Angelina, Fred and George who were trying to prank some of the first years with some Zonko's products they hadn't used up over the summer, by the looks of it.

I was so distracted by them that I didn't even notice who came towards me until I bumped into them and jumped out of my skin.

"O-Oliver! I'm so sorry!" I cursed myself for stammering again, but I just couldn't help it, looking up and down his perfectly toned body, glancing up into his deep golden brown eyes that made me weak at the knees by just one look.

"No need to be sorry, Harry," Oliver smiled, and his voice made my heart flutter. "Was my fault; wasn't looking where I was going."

"No, real-" he cut me off.

"I know what you're going to say, Harry. Let's agree to disagree?" Oliver grinned.

"Fine," I laughed.

"So what brings you down this end of the train?" Oliver's eyes were curious. "Why aren't you with Ron and Hermione like you usually are?"

"They're bickering, again," I rolled my eyes and Oliver chuckled before hesitating. "What?" I asked, noticing the hesitation.

"No, I was just wondering… did you want to find an empty carriage? Katie and Alicia are having a 'girl talk' as they like to call it, and they'll be a while. They do this _every year_, I swear." I could hear Oliver's disgust in his voice, though I wanted to laugh a little I held back, not wanting to make a mistake.

"Yeah, sure!" I said, maybe a little more brightly than I should have.

"Great!" Oliver grinned again, the disgust on his face vanishing in the blink of an eye.

We were lucky; we only had to walk a few paces before we came to an empty carriage. Oliver opened the door and gestured me in, and I walked in and sat down quite a lot shyer than I was usually.

"So, Harry," Oliver said conversationally. "As the girls are having a girly talk, why don't we have a guy talk?" my heart started to pound as I knew what was coming next. I didn't think I was ready for this but with Oliver sat right there… something felt right, but part of me was entering panic mode.

"Yeah?" I said nervously, almost not wanting Oliver to reply.

"Well… any special girl you've got your eye on?" Oliver winked playfully at me and I kicked myself as I blushed.

"Nah… not really," I laughed nervously. "You?"

"Not particularly," Oliver said, and that caught me by surprise and Oliver noticed it. "Really, I don't. Being followed around by them almost every day doesn't really paint the best picture of girls; however I used to have a crush on Katie, not gonna lie to you Potter." Oliver grinned cheekily and I forced a smile, even though it hurt me pretty bad: worse than I expected it to.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Oliver leaned forward to me and looked straight into my eyes.

"Harry, I've known you for almost 3 years now. I can tell there's something you're not telling me…" Oliver trailed off as I moved my eyes from his to the carpet of the carriage which had just become very interesting to me.

"Whatever it is, Harry, you can tell me. I won't laugh, or judge and will always support you," I felt my walls and my heart melting from just the sound of his voice and I could feel hot tears boil up inside my eyes before I wiped them away with the back of my hand. "I promise." I looked back up into Oliver's now worried eyes, and swallowed.

"Well… I think…" I stopped, finding hard to force the words out of my mouth in front of the person I loved the most.

"Go on, Harry," I looked back to the floor and mumbled.

"I-I'm gay."


End file.
